End Your Isolation

I’VE BEEN feeling oddly disconnected lately. I guess having a newborn in the house can do that to you. Suddenly your comfortable routine is gone and you’re plunged into an alternate world, where business issues barely register.

Naturally I skipped all the usual fall shows this year to spend time at home with the baby. Now that I’m back, though, and hearing stories about the NGPA and SUPDMC conferences, a sense of detachment is setting in. The events don’t seem quite real to me. I feel like an outsider peering in.

This, I suspect, is how many of you must also feel if you don’t attend in-plant events but only read about them in IPG—left out and alone.

When you’re at one of these in-plant conferences, you can really feel the energy and camaraderie that result from being in a room with dozens of other in-plant managers. It gives you a sense of community. Without that, it’s easy to feel isolated, like you’re the only in-plant manager in the world.

I don’t mean to be harsh. I know not everyone gets a travel budget. But if you’re a loyal, long-time employee, you might be surprised by what happens if you just ask. I’ve met managers from small in-plants who presented good cases and got permission to attend events. One man applied for and got an educational grant, which he used to fund conference attendance.

Some managers do get training and travel budgets, but still don’t come to conferences, convinced their shops will fall apart without them. Yet hundreds of other equally busy managers have found a way.

My point is, in an industry as overlooked and misunderstood as this one, conferences help you see that you aren’t in this alone. Managers don’t just come away with information, they get inspiration, they make friends (whom they often rely on later for help), they get to test equipment and ask vendors direct questions. And they have fun. When they get back home, they don’t feel so lonely in their in-plants because now they see they are part of a community, and that others face the same problems they do. What’s more, they’re usually fired up with enthusiasm to make improvements.

As for me, my isolation is soon to end when I make my first visit to the Texas Association of College and University Printers (TACUP) conference, reportedly the largest in-state in-plant group. I’ve heard about TACUP for years, and was glad to be invited to speak there by host Jimmy Friend at the University of North Texas.

For those of you who would love to get out of your office and attend something next year, this is the time to start the ball rolling. You won’t get what you don’t ask for. Check out our online calendar of 2008 in-plant events, and then make your pitch. IPG